Dear Auntie Miriam,

You certainly livened up our Seder night this year and hopefully, by now, Uncle David has made a full recovery. I'm sorry that I never got a chance to speak to you that night but, to be honest, I've always found it difficult to speak to you, face to face. It's just a little block that I have and it goes back a long way. I think it goes back to when I was ten or eleven and you walked into my parent's bathroom while I was sleeping in the bath. I'm still blushing at the thought of it, so perhaps I've got it right. Maybe this letter will break the spell and, the next time we meet, perhaps we'll be able to have an adult conversation together.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I'll come straight to the point. I was most impressed with your arguments that night and wondered how many of them were born out of conviction and how many were just out of your contrary nature and sense of fun at baiting the rabbi?

Although I can't fault the logic of your arguments, I do have reservations about the conclusions you made. In much that was said I would take Uncle David's viewpoint, but not in all of them. Your problem (though I'm sure you don't see it as one) is that you're just too clever! You've always been clever Auntie Miriam, the one who knew the answers. You're the one who always won at Trivial Pursuits, even though you were the only one who didn't try to cheat by memorising as many cards as possible. You've got an almost legendary status in our family for your razor sharp mind, but of course you know that. Do you get tired of it, or are you still encouraging it?

I know that, to you, I'm probably sounding offensive, but please stay with me, I'm trying to build an argument, I'm not trying to belittle you. And my argument is this; have you really the view that there is nothing beyond that which is reasonable to your rational mind? Do you believe that if something makes no logical sense to you then it is flawed or wrong? Tell me if I'm wrong in this as we've never really talked about it and I'm just repeating what other people who call themselves rationalists have said.

You obviously hold no truck with religion, Auntie. Is this something to do with your upbringing or things that have happened to you in life, or is it a real conviction? I know that you've been a widow for some years now (sorry for bringing this up) and that you haven't had an easy life. Has this turned you against God, or am I talking rubbish? What I am getting at is that, was there ever a time when you had any kind of faith and then things happened to make you turn your back on God? Or is it that you've never ever had a faith at all?

I'm assuming that this second case is the true one, in what I'm now saying. Has there not been a time when you've said to yourself, I wonder if there could be something, someone, out there? If not, how can you explain such things as the beauty of nature and in the hearts and lives of others? How can you explain the faith of others, even to the point of death? Or what about the miracle of birth, of the human eye, of the snowflake? Is there no room in your makeup for the possibility of the supernatural and the miracle?

There are researches now being done in the U.S. and in Israel by Jewish professors, such as Ivor Panin and Yakov Rambsel, where they have used modern computer technology to look again at the Hebrew scriptures (the Jewish Bible). They've come up with some amazing facts, facts that have been hidden from man for thousands of years, because the technology hadn't been around to dig up these facts. What they've discovered is that there are hidden numerical sequences in the Hebrew. By using the discipline known as Gematria, where every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, they have discovered amazing patterns that defy the laws of probability. Also by looking at what they call ELS (equidistant letter sequences), they have found countless hidden words within the text, words that refer to things that were impossible to be known at the time of writing, such as the names of famous rabbis and events in modern history.

Without dwelling on the specifics, the fruit of this study is to see that, contrary to the belief of detractors, religious or otherwise, every single letter of the original Hebrew in the Old Testament has been put there for a purpose. And this purpose could only have been known by a higher intelligence (i.e. God), as scribes living thousands of years ago would have known nothing of these numerical codes and sequences, let alone the hidden information that dwells within.

This is perhaps the closest we're ever going to get to a scientific proof for the existence of God, I believe. So, what do you think of that? Of course, you need proof, don't you? If you like I can send you details of these studies, for you to look into them yourself. I'll be very interested in your comments, Auntie. There must have been times when you've glimpsed just a glimmer, perhaps a shadow, of something on the outside, knocking to come in. A reality beyond your own mind, so to speak. Has this ever happened to you? If it has, then, by my way of thinking, there's hope for you yet!

You know where I'm coming from, you know I'm a religious person. I believe in God. I'm a messianic Jew which basically means that I believe that the Jewish messiah and the Christian Christ are one and the same person. But I won't harp on about that, as I know you're not interested. The one thing that this does for me is to give me various assurances. I'm assured that I am loved despite who I am and that my life has a specific purpose in the great scheme of things. Most importantly, for me anyway, and no doubt controversially by your way of thinking, I have the assurance of eternal life. This means that when my body dies and decomposes that will not be the end for me.

Do you have this assurance? Do you want this assurance, Auntie? I'm sure that I've said enough to get my point across. I hope that I haven't angered you with my forthrightness (making up for years of silence). Please feel free to reply, especially if you want to discuss my final point above.

Yours sincerely.

Moishe